i've been home for just over a day and am still completely dissoriented...

thought i'd be so psyched to sleep in a dustfree room after taking a long plentiful water-wasting shower that i'd be able to get back into the groove more smoothly, but evidently not. sigh... as a burning man virgin i welcome advice from those more experienced...

i had a fantabulous time of course, kinda speechless right now, guess also a bit blue cuz i met someone out there and we didn't exchange numbers, i didn't wanna push it cuz i figured it was part of the B.M. experience, all is sacred on the playa and much stays on the playa etc. etc... am i wrong?... has anyone been able to continue a playa romance in the outside?

I got home Monday, and could hardly move, couldn't carry on a conversation and didn't wash the playa dust out of my hair until almost 24 hours after I got home! I thought that was the very first thing I would do!

I am also a newbie, so I don't have any great advice, just taking it easy this week, trying to get work done, reconnect with friends here, and taking care of myself.

i woke up in my friends's guest room the next morning and felt so strange to be in a room with walls/ceiling. i slept on a tarp and some foam right on the playa in the walk-in camping....sweet.

as for continuing the romance out here...i never do. it's sweet and sacred there and could never be duplicated in this far too complicated world. but perhaps you could find him on the missing board, stay in touch, and meet up again next year hey?

I have been home for 48 hours now and I can barely function. All I can think about is bman. I have been attempting to figure out a way to make my living building art cars or sound systems for wealthy burners or something like that. Any ideas?
I am however, happy to say that my bman romance is going strong. We left together and have plans to see each other Friday. Our connection is intense and unspoken. I can't imagine a better place to start. I just hope that the world doesn't get in the way. I will let you know how it turned out next year at the burn. Wish us luck.

I was at work, feeling really lonely for my playa friends, and a song that I never cared for in the past (something about "Arms of the Angels" by Sarah Mclaughlin) came on the radio. On Wednesday morning at about sunrise, I woke up to a hauntingly quiet playa and only that song could be heard. After that they played "Calling all Angels" by Jane Siberry. I guess it was an angel theme at sunrise. I'll never forget the beauty of that moment. And today, back in this world, when I heard that song, it immediately took me back to that playa moment. so bittersweet.

I got home Sunday night, fell asleep on the couch, woke up at 7am, threw some clothes in the Laundry, ran those same clothes thru a second wash, took a ridiculously long shower, pulled on some nice clean clothes, drove to Taco Bell and got a bunch of food, read the paper and had a Mocha from Diedrichs, went home, brushed my teeth, stood in front of the mirror and took note of my EXTREME cleanliness, walked out to my truck, opened the hatch and carefully unloaded my shade cover from the Playa (large parachute) took a deep breath........ and shook like an earthquake promptly covering myself and the surrounding parking area for 30 feet in all directions with a thick layer of Playa Dust !!

anyone in the bay area is welcome to come to my dekompression party on saturday night. it's a pajama/slumber party - wear your cutest pjs and bring your sleeping bag. we'll be having a post burn white elephant swap -
so bring all the crap you bought for burning and didn't use, all the crap you were gifted with but don't want, and give that crap to someone else. whatever crap is left over will be stored for 2004, and will be distributed to others who need said crap.

we're in the east bay, el cerrito 6608 cutting blvd, i block east of the del norte bart station.

I'm easing into "normal" life like Bugs Bunny eased into the cannibals' pot of boiling water, a little at a time. First there was the 9 hour drive back to Vegas. We read two articles in the Reno newspaper about the fatality and the event. Julie started crying because "they got it right, they didn't slam it, or insult it." The next day was just cleaning and getting one last hit of playa dust. Then I flew back to Santa Fe and spent an afternoon pretending to work, but I'm still in fog. Last night I slept 10 hours straight throught.

Last year at this time all I could think about was next year's burningman. This year to stave off decompression depression I'm thinking of art I want to create now, of stuff I need to do. For instance, this afternoon I'm auditioning for a play with a small community theater group. On the drive back from the airport I listened to a kooky Xtian expound on feminism and Corinthians. I've decided I still have stuff to explore with the Beyond Belief theme and that is my personal theme for the art I'll create over the next year. I ordered a copy of the sermon for neat-o sound bites. At the Burn I met the artist who built the bamboo bridge (scary fun!) on the Esplanade. He lives here and needs help for next year's project.

Casnimot, you mentioned how your eyes were opened. Mine were too. I undertook a lot of responsibility, engaged in a lot of consensus decision making and put myself in a position of relying on a lot of different people. And it was a huge sucess. Nobody flaked, everybody did what they said they would do. I invested heavily. Last year watching the burn was a cool pyrotechnics event. This year it was truly cathartic and healing. I am basking in a glow, but will not rest on laurels.

I think the key to avoiding the blues is doing what you can to keep the spirit alive the other 51 weeks of the year. If that means giving till it hurts, so be it, I've always had a masochistic streak.

I think the high heel knee high boots will forever be covered in Playa dust. Luckily it looks like my brain will eventually emerge out of the dust cloud...not quite there...I just realized my underwear are on backwards...maybe a post BM state of being...

"The purpose of life is to live it,
to taste experience to the utmost,
to reach out eagerly and without fear
for newer and richer experience."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

1. Congatulations, you took the blue bill (or was it the red), you have been shifted to a new way of everthing ....

2. My 1st experience affected and changed me long after I returned...b/c my new clothes did not fit my old life. This is why it is just the beginning. YOu will meet other burners all over now, talk to them...it will make you feel supported. WE are all crazy together and it is REAL (or NOT who knows, who cares!)

3. Decide if you want to keep your playa clothes or your pre-playa life or somewhere in the middle. I kept my playa shit which made me feel uncomfortable for a while as I cleaned house and started living with my new wardrobe.

4. If you want your life to be more in line with the playa, it will just happen naturally, at a pace that it personal and individual. Try not to be sad if your best friend ever is not moving as quickly or is ready to quit their corperate job and dye their hair purple etc etc....

After three years of house cleaning, I've quit my corperate job to teach, my closet is filled with expressions not labels, I count the minutes till I hang out with my friends who I just saw yesterday, don't care about money, don't care about tv, don't care about what the rest of everyone is doing as long as I can just be how I want even if a minority and misunderstood.